Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

Published April 19, 2012
Israelis pause during a two-minute siren in memory of victims of the Holocaust in the market in Jerusalem. The day is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants and places of entertainment shut down, and radio and TV programming focuses on Holocaust documentaries and interviews with survivors. – AP Photo.
Israelis pause during a two-minute siren in memory of victims of the Holocaust in the market in Jerusalem. The day is one of the most solemn on Israel's calendar. Restaurants and places of entertainment shut down, and radio and TV programming focuses on Holocaust documentaries and interviews with survivors. – AP Photo.
Helen Brashatsky, who converted to Islam after surviving the Holocaust, poses for a photo with her husband of Palestinian descent, Ahmad Jabarin. For years, Leila Jabarin hid her secret from her Muslim children and grandchildren -- that she was a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was born in the Auschwitz concentration camp. – AFP Photo.
Helen Brashatsky, who converted to Islam after surviving the Holocaust, poses for a photo with her husband of Palestinian descent, Ahmad Jabarin. For years, Leila Jabarin hid her secret from her Muslim children and grandchildren -- that she was a Jewish Holocaust survivor who was born in the Auschwitz concentration camp. – AFP Photo.
Holocaust survivor Helen Handler rests her head and cries on the wall of a rail car that will go in the Holocaust & Tolerance Museum, in Phoenix. The railcar was brought 11,000 miles from Macedonia to Arizona. The last time Handler saw her family together was on a similar car on the way to Auschwitz. – AP Photo.
Holocaust survivor Helen Handler rests her head and cries on the wall of a rail car that will go in the Holocaust & Tolerance Museum, in Phoenix. The railcar was brought 11,000 miles from Macedonia to Arizona. The last time Handler saw her family together was on a similar car on the way to Auschwitz. – AP Photo.
Israelis hold a demonstration outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv against German author Guenter Grass. Israel declared Nobel Prize-winning German author Grass "persona non grata" last week over a poem in which the former SS soldier described the Jewish state as a threat to world peace. – Reuters Photo.
Israelis hold a demonstration outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv against German author Guenter Grass. Israel declared Nobel Prize-winning German author Grass "persona non grata" last week over a poem in which the former SS soldier described the Jewish state as a threat to world peace. – Reuters Photo.
Israelis hold a placard outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv against German author Guenter Grass following the sounding of a siren marking Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance. – Reuters Photo.
Israelis hold a placard outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv against German author Guenter Grass following the sounding of a siren marking Israel's annual day of Holocaust remembrance. – Reuters Photo.
A visitor looks at pictures of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Starting Wednesday evening, Israel marks the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. – Reuters Photo.
A visitor looks at pictures of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Starting Wednesday evening, Israel marks the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. – Reuters Photo.
Visitors look at an installation at Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Starting Wednesday evening, Israel marks the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. –Reuters Photo.
Visitors look at an installation at Yad Vashem's Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem. Starting Wednesday evening, Israel marks the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. –Reuters Photo.
Israeli soldiers stand at attention during the opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Israel is marking its annual remembrance day for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II. – AP Photo.
Israeli soldiers stand at attention during the opening ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Israel is marking its annual remembrance day for the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II. – AP Photo.

Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors are gathering in Jerusalem to mark the country’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Holocaust is considered a central event in modern Jewish history and key to Israel’s society.

Fewer than 200,000 elderly survivors remain in Israel.

Six survivors were lighting symbolic torches at the ceremony. The Israeli flag flies at half staff, poems are read and the Jewish prayer for the dead is recited. – Text by Reuters and photos by Agencies.

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